Excerpts from a diary concerning the thoughts, feelings, and experiences which are involved when undergoing an abortion are presented. The patient had a difficult time coming to the decision to have an abortion. She could accept the abortion rationally but not emotionally. She had the feeling that she could not determine her own course of action, and that others were not sympathetic to her plight. The patient declares that "abortion is a necessary evil". Before the abortion, the patient felt alone. She felt guilt and that no one was supportive. After the abortion, the patient, a mother of several children, felt the need to hold and touch other babies, an indication that she had not fully come to terms with her feelings about the abortion.